Went to San Diego's Comic-Con and I'm pleased that I'm sure how to spell and punctuate the name of the event. According to the Comic-Con itself. Is that an English teacher for you or what?

I kind of hate the convention because I'm not really into comics. I used to like them, when I would read Archie and Veronica and Little Lulu (or was it Lil' Lotta?) and all those. And I read the comics in the Times very often. But I'm not as enthusiastic about the art form as are others in my family. And it is enjoyable to watch them have the grandest time skulking up and down the aisles at the convention center, looking for cool stuff from whatever thing they're into these days.

My brother, also a comics geek, found an odd little bunch of booklets by Esther Pearl Watson who has a character named Tammy. I haven't studied them closely--they're drawn in a very crude way and are supposedly taken from an actual school notebook someone tossed out. I'll read them and report back.

So in fact I think the convention is really well run, except why they do not provide benches for people to sit on is beyond me and very torturous. People are sweating and tired and there's nowhere to sit except on the floor, and that just seems inhuman to me. But they have a great shuttle service from outlying hotels (although the street traffic was so thick much of the time that it was quicker to just use the trolley). And god knows there's a ton of stuff to observe, not the least of which is the gigantic conglomeration of fans who dress up as their favorite characters. I really enjoyed the costumes a lot this year.

And there were also some great panels to listen to. I caught Robert Smigel who was very funny and I was grateful he didn't bring Triumph the Comic Dog over to harrass me. Also Kenan Thompson moderated Samuel Jackson nicely (although Jackson's comments about looking for a sweet young teenager were weird and off-putting), and it was very good to hear Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen and Forrest Ackerman talk about their opinions. But it was not so great to watch Simon Coen do his Borat thing where he wrestled in the nude with a fat man who was also nude, and we were not spared the sight of the guy's naked balls hanging in Borat's face. That one kind of threw me.

Okay, so there's lot of stuff to see and to laugh at. But I'm not the comics queen. And I have never found a comic book that relates to me at this age or point in my life. That would be thrilling and yes, I have considered trying to write one myself. Too hard, I think.

So I'm blathering. It was satisfying in that mommish way to watch my family enjoy themselves, and they really did. My son found a very cool light sabre and my daughter bought a lovely pendant based on Keira Knightley's from the first Pirates movie. In fact I think my kids spent all of their money, which is not hard to do if you're into this stuff.

Now we are back and it's time to rev up for school. I get to go to a design conference tomorrow, plus I'm taking a writing workshop at the nearby liberal arts college. This is good news! I have discovered again that I don't do well without some structure in my life. I get too lazy.

Maybe I'll have my students make a comic or two. I wonder if they'd like that...